Dodge-Plymouth Neon: Exhaust Issues

OK, so i just got a used Neon. I love it! it is the best little car. But.......I was taking off today from a red light, not too fast, not too slow, and yellow, yes, that is correct, yellow smoke came out from the back of my car. I know what Blue, Black and white are, but Yellow? It was so thick and so bad, th at the people behind me had to slow down and pull over, then like 30 seconds later, it stopped. My car never sputtered, spattered or mermered. Not jolts or jerks, nothing. Just smoke.What could it be?Could it become a major problem for me later?

I have heard various opinions about why my 1996 plymouth neon is expelling black smoke out of the exhaust. I have replaced the upstream O2 sensor but haven't replaced the downstream O2 sensor. Believe it or not this "Downstream" sensor is very difficult to find in stock at various auto parts suppliers, alot of them don't even stock them at all.(?)I am getting a trouble code reading 51 (lean air/fuel ratio) however the car is burning extremely rich. I have heard that if one of the sensors is bad that it may be "stuck" into a lean signal output causing the engine to use more fuel to compensate for it.Is it likely that this downstream O2 sensor is the problem?

red96: We have a 96 with 192,000 miles on it. This summer we had the upper sensor replaced at the Dodge dealer, he had to get one from a parts store as the Chrysler one was nearly double the price. It came to about $230. When we got about 20 miles from the dealer the service eninge soon light came back on. The lower sensor had gone out. If we had replaced both at the same time it would have been more than $100. Hope this helps.

farout,Turns out that my troubles with O2 sensors nearly mirrors your own. However, I did the work myself and the biggest lesson I have learned is to do some researching before jumping to conclusions and running into expensive trial and error methods.Thank you for your response to my question! red96

I am looking for anyone that could possibly give me any info regarding Srt-4's and any unreliablity that you have had with them. I bought my car with 12,000 miles on it, in Sept 2005, the first week it started having problems. I took it back to Dodge and they tried to tell me that I was driving the car too hard. It started to slow down greatly and I had a feeling that the turbo was going out. I was getting about 7 miles to the gallon. Several weeks later the cat went out. And recently the turbo did go out altogether. After I had the car back from Dodge for one week it started acting up again, now they say that the motor is going out and that they will not fix the car (it is still under warranty) if I dont produce 4 receipts showing that I used synthetic oil only. I change the oil myself and never dreamed this would happen. Anyone that can please help would be greatly appreciated.

They also need to produce proof of maintenance for first 12,000 miles and any other information on repairs if they represented the car to have a warranty, If you changed your own oil then a statment of this fact should be sufficient. They put a demand on you put a demand on them. These cars are fast not tough if you drive them hard expect problems$$$$

We need to start a rally to get chrysler/Dodge to start making quality neons. They are a nice cheap car to buy, easy on gas but overall quality sucks. there are many problems with them and for the most part a simple fix. but we should be able to not have to worry about theses problems espically at such lo Kms. If quality was better i would def stick to these cars they are fun to drive and lots of cool things that can be done to them.

YA! THAT IS WEIRD, YELLOW IS USUALLY AN INDICATION OF SOMETHIG BURNING, LIKE WHEN YOU ROAST THE TIRES TOO LONG, I HOPE YOU FIGURE IT OUT, BUT IF IT HAS NOT AFFECTED THE MOVEABILITY, OR RUNNING OF THE VEHICLE I WOULD JUST KEEP AN EYE ON THE GAGES, INFACT MAYBE BUY AFTER MARKET GAUGES SO YOU CAN KEEP AN EYE ON THINGS BETTER, THEY MAKE A COOL RAIL THAT GOES ON THE DRIVER SIDE THAT HOLDS TWO OR THREE GAUGES, YOU CAN ORDER IT FROM ORIELLY'S OR A COMPANY CALLED MODERN PERFORMANCE.COM. I BUY MY BOLT ONS FROM THEM AND LOVE THE SERVICE. AND FINALLY SMELL. ANY OUT OF THE ORDINARY SMELLS NEED TO BE ADRESSED IMMEDIATELY. HOPE THIS HELPS. :confuse:

i have a 05 srt-4 which the drivers frt brake caliper sometimes freezes up after short to long highway trips.can someone tell me if i need to replace the caliper or will bleeding the system help any :confuse: